Ask the Readers: Why Are YOU Saving for Retirement?

As I shared yesterday afternoon, although I believe National Save for Retirement Week is important, I find the topic dreadfully dull when stretched out for a week of blog posts. Lesson learned.

Still, I don’t think all retirement discussions have to induce snores or tears. In fact, when you think about it, retirement — especially early retirement — ought to be something to celebrate. When a person has managed to save and make smart choices, they have a chance to opt out of the rat race and pursue the things they really love.

(Note that some people, such as my wife, are fortunate to work at jobs they love in the first place. They’re already doing something they really love.)

Rather than talk more about the numbers or the various types of retirement plans, I thought it would be fun to have a chatty open discussion about our actual plans for the future. Each of us has a different vision of what we’d do if we didn’t have to work, a different reason for saving. I want to know what you intend to do once you’ve reached that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

I’ll go first.

I don’t actually envision my retired life being much different than it is right now. I’d still write — I’d just do less of it. For the past few years, I’ve spent 60-80 hours a week writing. That’s too much.

I got to spend most of September writing just 20 hours per week. With the rest of my time, I worked in the yard, walked around the neighborhood, and read comic books. I have to tell you, that’s ideal. That’s what I want daily life to be like in retirement. And I want to be able to spend several weeks per year traveling with Kris, visiting countries all around the world.

That, my friends, is my ideal retirement.

What about you? What do you see yourself doing in retirement? What does retirement mean to you?

I like to think of retirement as Benjamin Franklin did. He talked about the kids leaving the home and getting married. He talked about leisure but not idleness. I would like to live comfortably without extravagances, but be able to pursue anything that I deem to be worthwhile and do good for family, friends, and mankind.

I think we need a new word for our goal. For me “retirement” generates images of ending a career, beginning leisure time, blue hair and winnebagos. Why not set a goal of a new phase of productivity in the arena of one’s heart’s desire, being fulfilled AND busy most days – with the financial freedom to pursue one’s passions and live fully. And why wait until “retirement age” to do this? Readers of this blog are well on the way to financial independence – why wait until an arbitrary age to start pursuing one’s passion and living one’s dream? For me, living – and working – the dream is the motivation for pursuing financial freedom.

I would like to live comfortably on the coast and close to family. Currently working towards my CFA I hope to continue investing and researching at my leisure. As well, I would like to stay active in running; while I doubt I will do anything competitive at retirement age I would like to focus on staying fit. Lastly, I would like to work on my cooking skills as it is something I really enjoy and host dinners for friends and family.

My retirement plans are already set. I absolutely LOVE travel and plan to travel the world–and see every country at least once. I would live only on what I carry with me. I would shed most of my possessions and hit the open road. I would arrive in a country and make it a point to stay the length of my visa. I want to see, smell, taste, and enjoy all the cultures I can. Some would say I am obsessed with travel. They are probably right!

I also think I would need some extended time of rest so I am considering the idea of eventually buying a place in another (cheaper) country on the beach. If I ever wanted a break from the road I could go there for a while with my own place and relax on the beach with a margarita. I could also come back stateside and stay with family and friends for a while too. Being a traveler makes things very flexible!

I would also have side projects that I could do over the internet and/or while traveling. My travel blog would certainly be one of them and I also like photography so I would spend time working on that hobby. I also see myself possibly doing some volunteer work as I go as my way of giving back once I retire. Maybe even write a book about my travels if I got the ambition and time to do it. I find with travel that you can certainly over-plan everything and then it becomes work. Just go where the road takes you! It’s about the journey not the destination.

If travel was not an option for some reason or another I would take my idea of owning a place on a foreign beach and open a bar/cafe too. It would occupy my time and in my mind be fun. Maybe I could even make more money!

I am sure as I go along in life circumstances and priorities may change and will alter this plan accordingly. I do know if I retired today I would be on the next plane out and take it from there. I am passionate about travel and do it every chance I get!

I save because my parents never had to. My dad’s spent 35+ years at one company; the same company that my grandfather spent 35+ years with. (I even spent a couple summers interning there). Although my parents have some “extra retirement” money set aside in various IRAs/401ks, it was never intended to be their bread & butter during retirement. Then came program-changes… With monthly out-of-pocket expenses skyrocketing for retirees. After 35+ years of working towards a “defined pension,” the lawyers have found a way to change all of the terms on everyone. Seeing my parents worried about retirement gives me motivation to max out my retirement savings.

My current goal is to be ready to semi-retire by 40 and am right on track. I am looking to switch careers right now, but assuming that I can quickly get back to my current earning level, I will be able to sustain myself very comfortably on just $20,000 a year in “semi-retirement.”

Right now it’s looking very doable but there’s no way to know what life is going to throw at me in the future. If I find something to do for 80 hours a week that excites me, I have no qualms about leveraging that till the day I’m completely incapacitated.

Truth be told, I don’t really want to retire. I want work that breathes life into me. However, the pragmatist in me still plans for the worst case scenario.

I think retirement will be spending more time the way we do when we have a free day: building things, visiting family, camping, writing, traveling, taking and sharing pictures, helping people, and caring for animals.

My grandfather-in-law has been retired for over 20 years, and he volunteers 3-4 days a week, is active in his church, works out at the gym every weekday, takes several trips with his wife every year and spends time with his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He has a full and happy life, which I think is contributing to how well he’s aged. That’s just the kind of retirement I want to aim for.

Come to think of it, his whole family was happy he retired because it meant they’d all get to spend more time with him. I want to build a life like that – to know people are glad I’m around.

My current job (minor plug: The North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement) has given me a greater insight to what retirement can be like. Before my current job and before reading GetRichSlowly, I only worried about 3 things in retirement: money, money, money

While I still think about the financial part, I know it is only part of having a great retirement.

I guess the reason I’ve started my retirement fund (this week, in fact!) is a little hazier than yours, JD. I just don’t want to end up like my parents; through a combination of bad luck and bad choices, they’re financially insecure and their relationship has suffered as a result. I think they’ll still land on their feet, but I never want my personal life to be miserable because I didn’t think ahead enough.

When I retire, I want to be able to sleep in if I want to, visit my family as much as I’d like, and travel to new places. I’d also like the time to be involved even more deeply in my community and have the financial security to give a significant chunk of my time to others without worry.

Spending 10-12 hours a day preparing for work/working/commuting as most people do doesn’t leave enough adequate time for spouse, kids, house, sleep, exercise, charity, alternative pursuits, and pure leisure time, so many of those get left behind and I think my life is somewhat less fulfilling because of it.

This is why instead of taking 40 years to save enough to quit working, I’ve chosen to take more like 10 agressive saving years to get to the point of working much less and achieving this balance. This does require the dual planning of saving and finding/creating a working situation that will allow the reduced hours.

I was unemployed for 16 weeks and 20 weeks in the years 2000 and 2001. It was SO awesome. I didn’t have a lot of committed expenses (paid-for car, rent was ~600/month the first year, and $350/month the second year, no other debt), so unemployment insurance was totally enough to get by on.

I found my natural sleep rhythms, read the paper, had lunch with friends, and puttered a lot. If I were going to be not-working forever I’d have to build in some sort of structure, but the ability to just do anything I want whenever I want will be so so so so great. I still have about thirty years to go though!

My wife and I would like to move to the Central Coast California wine country when we retire. Hopefully I will get a chance to get involved with making some wine, at least on a small scale at our home, and she wants to work in one of the area’s tasting rooms taking her pay in wine not cash!

Mostly what we want to do is save enough to be sure we are not a burden to anyone, our kids if we ever have any or our nieces and nephews.

I save in a retirement account because I figure it’ll eventually be useful to have the money. I don’t have any particular plans for it. I’m 28, I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about it, to be honest.

I’d be ok if it wasn’t that different from my life now: Live by the beach, go surfing in the mornings, ride my bike in the afternoons, write some software in between, visit a new country a couple times a year.

I’d be perfectly happy with that as a “retirement”, but I haven’t made any plans. That’s pretty much how I live my live everyday already, why wait till I’m 65?

I love my job, but I’m inclined to think that by age 60 or so, I will have had enough of it and be ready to move on to something else!

Myself, I have a passion for music that I don’t get to indulge as much as I would like. So I definitely see myself spending time on voice lessons, noodling around on my guitar, maybe learning a bit of piano…

I also hope to travel regularly. Right now I love the back-country and roughing it, but I’m figuring that by that point in my life I will be more into comfy hotel beds and instead go see other countries and experience other cultures.

My husband dreams of retiring to the country and having a hobby farm, so I imagine that will figure into my retirement as well.

Retirement to me is an enigma. I don’t foresee it happening in my future, ever, no matter how positive I try to be about it. I make far too little, and even though I save like crazy, I only have enough saved up for about 3 years of “retirement”, and that’s 3 years of living very frugally and very close to the poverty line.

I don’t have any family of my own (ie, no husband, no boyfriend or kids), so no help there. I see myself alone, working whatever job I can find in my older years, for as long as I physically can, until I can no longer physically do it, then using my savings to keep me out of the homeless shelter for as long as possible. I know that sounds bleak, but given my low earning potential (and the sorry state of social security), this seems to be the most likely outcome. (I’ll be going back to college next year to learn a new career to see if I can’t change that outcome a little.)

I might continue to work all my life. I don’t know, but I think the thing that makes having enough saved for retirement so great is the fact that even if you work you don’t HAVE to. You’re doing it just to have something to do. What makes jobs miserable is the knowledge that even when things suck you have to continue to work. You HAVE to get up every day early in the morning and head to the office. If you don’t then you’re not going to be able to pay for your food, house, electricity, etc.

Having started saving for retirement late in the game & knowing that I’m genetically wired with a longevity gene (barring accidental death) my retirement will not be early & will in all likelihood be modest. Still, I look forward to ditching the alarm clock that currently rings even before my dogs think it’s time to get up! I look forward to long walks with the dogs, going to the gym after the mass of workers have cleared out, reading all the books I don’t have time to read nowadays, & impromptu excursions because it’s too beautiful a day to waste. I look forward to more creative time in my studio, of which the by products will also supplement my retirement. Some volunteering will be a part of my retirement. I really look forward to taking extended learning courses / field trips at a significant senior discount through my local community college seniors programs. Oh, yes – going to the grocery store on weekday mornings when it’s quiet, and taking advantage of early bird specials.

My dream is to travel, volunteer, and spend time with family. While I would love to still work, and hopefully in my current career, I am preparing for the fact that I may not be able to do so. We hear far too often reports of people forced into retirement due to illness, layoffs or because they’ve just become too expensive for their employer.

As a few other readers have expressed, I have no intentions of retiring. My life is a migrating series of interests, and right now what I do is lucrative enough that I can have a small surplus; I save this because someday what I am doing may require additional funds. Even though I intend to work until I die, savings simply means more freedom (in a sense), and so I do it.

I haven’t thought much about how I’ll spend my retirement – I’ve been too busy thinking about my husband’s. He’s 18 years older than I am, so he’ll retire first. I work (as a civilian) for the military, which opens up all kinds of travel possibilities – I can do 3-5 year rotations in the UK, Germany, Italy (and a few others). By then, I figure it’ll be time to settle close to my step-son, and remind all of my nieces and nephews (and probably some great nieces/nephews by then) why I’m their favorite relative. There’s 20 of them – 10 on each side – so I’m thinking that will keep me busy. Luckily, we’re already saving for it.

I see myself with CHOICES. That’s why I save, that’s why I budget, and that’s why I plan.

My grandmother was widowed at 75, and she had SS and $20K in the bank. No house, no pension. She spent her last 8 years moving between her three daughters, and having no choices because she had no way to pay for anything.

My dream retirement? Two small houses, one winter, one summer. The winter house somewhere like Key West or the USVI. The summer house somewhere on a lake. We’ll read, we’ll walk, we’ll cook, we’ll barbecue, we’ll have family to visit, and we’ll travel to see friends and family. Nothing fancy, but definitely fulfulling.

I am 28 and would love to retire by 60, if not earlier. I’m able to save and invest a decent amount of my income, but I could do better. I’m not counting on the guy who’s likely to become my future husband, my parents, the govt., or the places where I work to take care of me in my old age; I really just need to rely on myself and make sure that I retire when I want to.

I see myself owning my house outright (I do not want to worry about a mortgage when I’m in my old age), traveling, spending time with family and friends, volunteering, and learning new languages when I’m retired. I would probably work part-time too if I ever felt bored.

Retirement is hard for me to imagine because on my side of the family everyone worked until they were unable (illness/loss of job, etc). Last year my dad at 74 was forced to stop working after he lost his business, my mom at 65 is still working. I do keep a journal for all the ideas I can’t get to. If I could find a way to do everything, both full time job, family and my hobbies of writing and art, then I would keep on doing that till I am unable to as well. If not, fantasize about having a part-time job that brings in enough money and more time for personal projects.

Retirement is a silly concept really. I don’t want to do any of the things other people seem to do in retirement, especially not at the expense of enjoying life now. I’ve already changed careers twice, and I’m sure I’ll do it a few more times. I save as much as I can, in case of health problems, but I already balance work, life, volunteering, and travel as best I can to get maximum value now. When I have enough saved maybe I’ll work less, or maybe I’ll work for a non-profit I admire. But maybe I’ll be doing something I love and won’t want to slow down. I know from periods of unemployment that without a job or other commitment to pull me up and out the door, I become a useless slug and spend all my time sleeping and watching tv. That’s no way to live.

I just started reading “Die Broke” and I’m wondering if especially those of you who don’t plan to retire are thinking that “retirement” as it has been marketed is more of a fantasy than a probable reality for most of us?

I hate to be so arrogant, but I feel I’m doing exactly what I’ll be doing in retirement. I travel when I want; I take days off when I want. The added bonus is that I make a lot of money each month via working and freelance. The only thing that will change in retirement is that I will be much older and the child will be grown.

I have always manage to get what I wanted in life thanks to planning and not living far above my income. My income has always been higher than my expenses, partly because I’m not a big fan of debt. When you have the basics: a mortgage note and utilities, your income will always be higher. Add major debt, your income will suffer. Regardless of the fluctuations with my income, I always had some type of cash cushion to manage the droughts.

Just to think about it, retirement is advertised about freedom and doing what we like. But it wasn’t always like that. The concept of retirement is quite new, and very few humans, in it’s whole history, have ever benefited from it.

Back in university, my canadian politics and policy teacher once mentionned that the reason behind the suggested age of retirement being 65 years was purely based on statistics. Back at the beginning of the 20th century, men usually died when they were 66 years old. Hence, they “enjoy” their last year. Of course, I doubt that they had any money or quality of life, or much of a health to benefit from.

But today, we have better life conditions. We have fully functional washrooms, sewers, fresh water at the turn of a knob, etc… Heck, if we take care of ourselves, we can easily live to our 80th birthday.

So, retirement, that new concept that my ancestors never benefited from, what will I do with it? Probably give a hand to my kids, raising the grand-children, participating in various community activities, raising money for the schools, and STILL working part-time. When I feel like doing it, probably take a hike to a nice forest, or around a lake.

Cheers!

P.S. : J.D., you might want to inquire into the psychology of retirement. Federal public servants in Canada can enroll, if they want, into retirement preperation classes. My mother did, and the psychological aspect of staying home and not going to work is hurting a lot of good people, and sometimes hinder some good couples.

My goal in retirement is to simply have more time to pursue the things I’m interested in. I’m interested in so many things that I just don’t have time to get to them all while working. I’d like to travel more with my husband, I’d like to do more with photography, learn how to do stained glass, the list goes on.

I save now so that I can get to all of these things as soon as possible.

I can’t imagine retirement right now, but I save anyways It’s hard to imagine what the world will be like in 35 years.

My goals are to live comfortably, ethically and independently. If I don’t get to travel the world or enjoy “the finer things in life” — that’s okay too. I have no doubt my friends, family, volunteering and hobbies will keep me pretty busy!

I want to become a national sports columnist. I can spend most of my time watching sports and researching sports, which is how I spend my time anyway. The only actual “work” that I would be doing is the act of writing, which even that I enjoy for the most part.

The day I get that job is the day I’m retired in my mind. It’s a job that I can do until the day I die.

Other than that, I hope to one day have enough money earned / saved to own land in Texas to hunt and fish as I see fit. That’s the good life.

I really enjoying what I’m doing now – teaching piano and voice, working as a freelance web designer, editing video. As well I’ve got big plans for the future. It’s hard to think that someday I’ll want to “retire”. But I’ve come to understand that as we age our priorities and enjoyments change. Right now I love backpacking and ‘roughing it’… someday though I may prefer a nice hotel room by the beach.

Saving for retirement then is not because I’m dissatisfied with life now, but because I recognize that someday I, not life, may change. Then having that money set aside will allow me the freedom to pursue interests without needing to compromise with financial profit as well as provide the capability to help “youngsters” pursue their dreams.

Our retirement savings have been put on hold for a bit while we build up our emergency fund, BUT our goals for it have been to protect us in the future.

While a lifestyle during retirement is something to think about – my main motivation is the story of my two grandmothers. One had sufficient retirement savings and had the money to afford the dignified care she received at the end of her life.

The other did not, and wound up in a spiral of significant debt compounded by medical problems, which sent her further into debt, that we only found out about after the fact. We had to sell everything she owned and she now lives in a Medicare facility where she is not treated with dignity and her few meager worldly possessions get stolen by facility staff.

End-of-life and nursing care is HIGHLY expensive, and we are only projected to live longer. I want to have enough money that I can be cared for with dignity and not place a financial burden on my family at the end of my life.

“End-of-life and nursing care is HIGHLY expensive, and we are only projected to live longer. I want to have enough money that I can be cared for with dignity and not place a financial burden on my family at the end of my life.”

AMEN!

I actually have fears of outliving my money. I do very well saving money and plan on a low key retirement, but with people living longer and longer . . . scary.

Kristen and Laura bring up an interesting point. I forgot that I had intended to write about this subject during National Save for Retirement Week.

We recently attended a barbecue. At the gathering, I spoke with a woman I’m barely acquainted with (though we share many of the same friends). Among other things, she runs an adult foster home. (Is that the right term?) She hosts several senior citizens near the end of their life.

When they come to her, they pay their way. She doesn’t charge unreasonable rates, and the people are happy to pay. Some of her tenants die while living in her home and they have money left over. But others run out of money. My acquaintance isn’t willing to kick these folks out on the street, so she keeps them on. Apparently there’s some sort of state subsidy when she does this, but it’s not nearly as much as she wants/needs to cover her costs.

Anyhow, I thought it was an interesting story that highlighted two things: 1. The dangers of outliving your retirement income and 2. Another intersection of psychology/emotions and money.

This is such a great discussion, because you have to know the WHY before you can settle on a HOW!

My vision is of a modest house with about an acre of land, so I can have a real garden, a few fruit trees, and some chickens … no more than an hour from water (lake, river, ocean, I don’t care) and no more than two hours from a big-enough city to have good medical services … near enough to a small town to bike or walk … the small town big enough to draw students to my yoga and dance classes, and for me to host a monthly social dance! Oh yes, and preferably in wine country!

Like another commenter above, family history + statistics indicate I’m going to live well into my 90s. Without children, I need to be in a community where I can make friends who will look out for me. But I hope that DH and I can get our travel bug out while we’re still working, so we can be content at home when the income and energy levels go down.

Although my retirement is a long way off (I’m only 25), I’m already saving for my retirement. I would rather skimp and save now, when I’ve got youth and health on my side, than later.

I’m currently working at a job I love (healthcare worker), but I can’t imagine doing it forever. It’s just too physical. Most of my co-workers either have to take early retirement (~55) or move into management.

My dream retirement is a little 4 seasons cottage somewhere quiet. Ideally with birds to watch, fishing, and lots of trees. A bunkhouse for guests and a big kitchen so that I can host dinners for extended family and friends.

I’m confident my fiance and I will have enough money in the bank in 40 years (I’m 30, she’s 28) to fully retire, if I so choose. The only reason I’d do it, though, is to travel. My job’s great, pays well, has normal hours (I don’t do more than 50 in a week), and is something I’m interested in. I’m in no hurry to leave… especially considering I get 4 weeks of paid leave each year.

“I know from periods of unemployment that without a job or other commitment to pull me up and out the door, I become a useless slug and spend all my time sleeping and watching tv. That’s no way to live.”

That’s a great point, E. Reading through these comments, I noticed all the lofty intentions so many people have. Travel the world, learn piano, grow a garden, volunteer, go to the gym, etc. Sadly, reality is much different. I’ve witnessed this first hand with my father.

When people retire, they do indeed have all those great intentions. But at the beginning, they end up just vegging. They spend their days sleeping in and watching TV, telling themselves they’ll get started on all those great things “someday.”

Then weeks turn into months, and they suddenly realize that the world is going on without them. That job that made them feel so important has been filled by someone else, and the company is trucking along just fine. They start to wonder if they were ever really that important after all. They wonder what the heck the point of any of this is, if the world doesn’t need them. They remember that they had a list of things they intended to do, just like all the commenters here have said, yet they haven’t actually done any of them. Throughout their whole life, they believed that the only reason they weren’t traveling/learning a foreign language/going to the gym regularly/etc. was because their job was sucking up all their free time, and if they retired, they’d get to do all those things. But after retiring, and being faced with the reality that they’re NOT doing those things, they’re forced to acknowledge that it wasn’t their job holding them back – it was themselves. They’re just not really that motivated. The job was a convenient scapegoat that allowed them to preserve their self-esteem. Absent the job, the only remaining explanation is their own apathy.

Understandably, this has a strong, negative psychological effect on the retiree. They can fall into depression, their marriage suffers, and they end up going back to work, if only to feel like they have a purpose again. This is EXACTLY what happened to my father, and it’s happened to countless other people. It’s not often discussed, but I think it’s an enormous issue that deserves far more attention than it gets. I’m optimistic that with the Boomer generation about to experience this for themselves, we’ll finally see a spotlight focused on it.

Wow, that’s a really interesting comment (#43) by Kevin. My parents are both retired, and they’ve never been the most ambitious people in the world, so I don’t know that they thought they were going to sail the seven seas after they hung it up.

That said, I do detect a sense of malaise recently — especially from my dad. Kevin’s post gives me something to talk about with him, to see if it hits a nerve. Maybe he needs to set a goal (learn how to speak Italian? master that new-fangled internet thingee?) to give him a reason to attack the day, rather than be as passive as he’s been lately. Thanks for the insight, Kevin.

Maybe it’s not fair since I already reached that goal 10 years ago, but what I learned that was a eye opening relief, was that savings or assets matter very little if you don’t have cash flow. In the end, that’s what determines what you have to work with on a daily basis. I worked on my skills at earning online and now I have all the cash flow I need to visit my grandkids all over the country and take trips to nice condos just to kick back a few times a year.

The reason I started saving was a result of research about what “should be done” by a beginning professional … it felt like the responsible thing to do. The reason I started saving more was boggleheads (http://www.bogleheads.org/) personalized recommendations in the forums based on assumptions about my retirement needs from rules of thumb.

Retirement means I get to stay in my field (criminal law) and focus my activity – not work anymore – on cases which will develop and progress the law on a bigger scale … along with plenty more time for my hobbies, for sleep, and to help my friends and family. And not dressing up as often – I miss my sweatshirts and jeans! Plus, when I walk around in hammer pants everyone will just think “oh, that poor senile old man” instead of “where did that weirdo even find those pants? Didn’t they burn them all before 2000?”

But in the big picture I really like my job – it’s not something I look forward to “finishing” or leaving. I have a chance to make a terrifying and unjust world much less frightening and unfair for people harshly judged by at their lowest moments by oppressive rules formed by political convenience and irrational fears.

Also, the dream of never again needing to wake up to my cell phone alarm playing James Brown “Get up offa that thing” is a huge motivator!

I guess I agree with the thought that retirement is to final. My husband and I say “our next life” begins in 8 years when our youngest child graduates from high school. I have always loved Bed and Breakfasts and in my “next life” I plan to own one somewhere out of the city I currently reside in, preferably in the mountains somewhere. I envision us doing this for the rest of our lives, but we may discover something new that we want to do. I hope our careful planning from the tips and techniques JD shares here will afford us the opportunity to take advantage of whatever crazy things life throws us and maybe start a whole “new life” after the B&B.

JD: RE: #36, #37, and #38: An interesting topic to explore further is Long Term Care Insurance. I work for the Alzheimer’s Association and regularly talk to families who are in the situation of Kristen’s grandmother who did not have enough for her long term care. My grandparents were smart enough to get long term care insurance shortly after my grandfather retired. Even though he spent almost 5 years in a private Alzheimer’s care unit before passing away, the LTC insurance helped cover most expenses so that my grandmother is still doing well financially and is not a burden to anyone in the family.

I imagine my life in retirement to be as follows.
Get up at 8am, instead of 7am which I do now.
Work out in the morning or mid-day, instead of in the evening (which I do now due to my work schedule).
Work an average of 20 hours a week at something I enjoy. Either contract work in my current field, or something new.
Take a class in something that interests me. French, photography, swing dance, whatever.
Cook much more often than I do now.
Take two long trips each year (3-4 weeks each), plus smaller 3-4 day trips when the mood hits.
Do all of the above while maintaining my current quality of life in terms of where I live, access to health insurance, etc.

I would like to ‘retire’ in my early 40s (~15 years). The version in my head involves a small ranch and taking in foster kids, or maybe having one of those ‘world’s strictest parents’ gigs and having people who can’t handle their kids send them to me. I want to make a difference in the world by pointing kids at a crossroads in the right direction.

I haven’t worked out any details, and the vision may change to something completely different by the time it happens.

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